USS Pickens heads for Panama Canal

As the Pickens steamed south in February winter was left behind.  As we traveled past Costa Rica a strong, pleasant smell of flowers and greenery contrasted with the sea.  We reached Panama City, the Pacific entrance to the canal and spent several days there.  I served as a temporary shore patrolman in Colon, the city on the Atlantic side, but I can't remember if I did in Panama City.  I did go on liberty but I remember nothing about it.

The Pacific ocean is some 8 inches higher than the Atlantic at this point, which makes locks necessary.  We proceeded through the  locks and on to Colon, where we also spent a few days.   It was here while I was on shore patrol duty that I saved three seamen from being locked up in a Panama jail.  They were in a bar but did not socialize with  the girls working there.  When they got up to leave the barman insisted they pay some high prices for drinks the girls had consumed.  They refused and a paddy wagon was called.  I had become acquainted with a policeman and got the police to agree not to jail the guys if they would pay for those drinks.  One refused, standing on his rights that they did not owe anything.  I pleaded, pointing out that they would miss their ship and being jailed in Panama would not be pleasant.  The other two paid for all three and they were freed.  On our ship before we landed at Panama City, we were warned Panamanians did not like us and if we got into trouble the ship would not wait for us.  We were also warned to avoid women. Not bad advice at any time.

Even as a kid, I talked when I should have listened

Imagine the consternation of my parents when I informed them that I had announced to my first grade class that , "My daddy said that if things didn't get better we will have to go on the Red Cross."  My mom and dad would have starved to death before taking charity, and of course, daddy was not serious when he made the remark. Art Linikletter would years later have a popular radio program, later  on TV, called "Kids  say the darndest things."  And kids do.  If parents could hear their young children  talk about things said and done at home, the parents would blush and look for a hole in which to hide.

The year  was 1932 and the depression was destroying the American people.  In one weekend we had gone from being  a comfortable farm family with no debts and money in the bank to huge indebtedness and not a cent. All over the nation as banks closed families lost their homes  and even their farms. Unemployment in 1929 was about 1.5 million, a rate of 3.2, increasing to 4.4 million in 1930; to 8.6 million  the next year, and to more than 12 million and a 24 per cent rate in 1932.  The Red Cross and Salvation Army were among those organizations  trying to feed the needy, but many people starved to death.  Conditions were bad on farms because no one had money to buy the products, but life was much worse in cities, where people fought over scraps in garbage cans.  The story is told of a pale, sickly girl being told to go home from school and eat something. She said she couldn't; it was her sister's turn to eat that day.  I had a friend who lived in New York City during this time, and he said his family lived out of garbage cans.  His younger sister died of hunger and related sickness.

There is no reason we should see those times again, but we could unless this country demands and gets better leadership.

Four months on Magic Carpet come to end

The Pickens began "Operation Magic Carpet" in September when we left troops to occupy Japan and picked up Marines and other combat veterans and took them home, landing them in San Francisco.  For over four months we continued this operation, taking troops to the South Pacific to occupy Japan and other islands and bringing veterans home.

Our crew  changed, also, as seamen amassed enough points to be discharged.  Each round trip would see some leaving, to be replaced by personnel from ships that were being taken  out of service.  Near the end of this operation I was the only radarman left of the original crew.

Although we would spend only enough days in San Francisco each trip to take on troops and supplies, I had enough liberty to become well acquainted with the area.  Actually, about all   I did on liberty was  go to movies.  I saw new releases and very old movies.  Once some mates informed me they had found a bar that did not check ages and they invited me to go with them.  When asked to name my drink, I hesitated and stuttered and the barman demanded our identification and ordered us out.  Girls and people not in uniform could drink at 18 but military people had to be at least 21.

 We were a part of  the magic carpet until it completed its work on January 7.  We then prepared to get our ship ready to be decommissioned, but orders changed and we were ordered to go to Norfolk, which meant we would pass through the Panama Canal.  That was an experience we looked forward to as was a trip to the east coast.

Caddo falls for bread and circuses

Schools may get $40.l M -- trumpets headline in the Sunday Times.  The article conveys the thrill that Caddo school leaders exude as they excitedly talk about how they will spend the money, as if it is certain to come into their grasping hands.  It is to be part of the $447 billion dollar stimulus plan presented by Obama.  The top school dogs give no thought to where such money will come from, giving the impression they think it comes from Obama's generous pockets.

I predicted that Obama's so called jobs plan would involve giving money to schools and other groups like police and fireman and would get Obama praise, sort of like an uncle giving candy to nieces and nephews.  They don't seem to understand that any money that comes from Obama must be taken from someone else.

School officials say this money comes at the right time, that many Caddo buildings are old and badly in need of repair or replacement.  Then, I ask, why have the school boards and administrators not  taken care of these needs?.  I can not recall propehty owners voting down a school tax that was called for a worthwhile purpose. My five children attended a primary school where most classes were in shacks called temporary but were used for years.  Parents would gladly have paid for needed construction, but they were told the courts would not  allow improvements because the majority of the students were white.


Our country is in trouble; no one can doubt that, but we don't need more government spending.  Get the government off our backs with  its excessive reulationss and we will provide jobs and restore health to the economy.

Money getting hard to get for charities

This morning I was looking at the schedule of delivers of Meals on Wheels when Charlie Walker came in and said  the program is over.  He said the program is out of money and cannot raise funds to keep it going.  That is a shame as shut-ins and elderly have received meals delivered to them Monday through Thursday each week.  For some people that is the only hot and  balanced meal they get.

This is an example of what happens when the economy is bad.  Needs are greater while funds to meet those needs get scarcer and scarcer.  For some reason my name is on the lists of many charitable organizations and, while many requests often sound urgent, I have noticed recently a note of desperation in some letters.  And now our president wants to spend billions repairing bridges and  playgrounds, while to pay for this he wants to tax charitable groups like soup kitchens.  We need the government to get out the way and let the private sector grow and create jobs for the millions now unemployed.  Getting people back to work and paying taxes instead of them costing money will give us a healthy economy again.  Turn the oil and gas industry loose to produce all this country's energy and eliminate the stupid regulations imposed upon us by EPA and other government bureaucracies.

Let's have more information and less bickering in the debates.

The debate Thursday featuring Republican candidates for president was more informative than were some previous debates, but it had too much bickering between candidates.  That has been the desire of debate moderators who seem to think controversy gets a larger audience than does  information.  What American voters need is information on how each candidate proposes to solve the major problems faced by the nation.

There are limits on what a president can accomplish by himself and what can be accomplished only with the consent  of Congress. The president cannot alone repeal Obamacare, which is stifling the economy and will add to the debt. He, or she, can relax some of the harmful regulations of the EPA and other federal departments that are  huge stumbling blocks to creating jobs and putting people to work.  The president acting alone can turn the oil and gas industry loose to make this country energy secure and put hundreds of thousands to work.  Other steps that can be taken, some only with congressional action, are restructuring the tax system, especially lowering the tax on corporations form the present 35 per cent.  Also, make an arrangement with corporations to bring more than a trillion dollars home and use it to expand and put more people to work.

 Romney and Perry must refuse to be drawn into silly arguments of    "you said, no I didn't but you said."  This comes across as churlish and childish and does not outline for us their  economic and foreign policies. Take a page from Newt Gingrich; be an adult, state your plans to solve the nation's problems and be above the frray. That's my advice for every candidate, and I'm offering it free.

Green energy waste makes me see red

Promoting "green" energy  as  the way to create jobs is a dangerous idea.  I have warned about this several times, hoping congress would have the courage to stop Obama's plan of  financing "green" companies and on the other hand promising to destroy the coal industry and handicap oil  and gas development.

The  bankruptcy of Obama's pride, solar panel maker Solyndra, is only a small part of the waste in the program to turn America green.  Of 38 billion dollars the stimulus  plan had to subsidize green companies, 19 billion has been spent, creating a total of only3500 jobs.  That comes to a cost of 5.4 million dollars per job.  While this criminally waste was going on, the energy department, carrying out Obama's wishes, refused permits to drill in the gulf, costing thousands upon thousands of jobs.  Such misguided policies are losing  more and more jobs and not allowing our economy to regain its health.